I finished reading the Volume 5 of Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus last week and started on a collection of works titled The Beloved Works of C.S. Lewis. I have been looking forward to reading Surprised by Joy, the first work in the collection after having been impacted so greatly by C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity but wanted to finish the Jewish Objections series first. Dr. Michael Brown does an admirable job with this series and, just like Mere Christianity, I attribute God’s providence to the timing in which a read it. Mere Christianity seemed to apply directly to my own personal need for guidance on how to live a life of worship given my belief in Jesus and the scriptures while the books on Judaism helped me to understand toxic pathologies common to many varieties of religion, especially the judeo-christian variety, due to the enforcement of tradition by religious elites that has little or nothing to do with scripture. The reading of these both Mere Christianity and the Jewish Objections series were both timely and, I believe, necessary although I have to admit that the former was edifying and optimistic while the latter was a warning not to regress to how I have lived most of my life nor let it take hold again in some other form.
I have now read the first several chapters of Surprised by Joy. So far, it seems to be taking me on an optimistic path. I just read several paragraphs on prayer that were kind of a gut punch. C.S. Lewis, one more time, described a defect he felt he suffered in his effort to pray that mirror what I perceive to be my own defect. I am looking forward to reading what he did about it.